That is a very useful concept and one that can a) give hope to plant collectors and b) be useful when one's garden spans areas with different light and moisture conditions-- where your choices might be to have very disparate- looking sections( not necessarily bad) or to achieve unity and repetition by very judicious plant choices. I would say that color does not achieve this as strongly or durably as form and texture, but it can be used to that effect as well.

I guess I have been misunderstood- I want to start a mass planting, and again have the room for it. I am starting out with these three cultivars, and am putting them against the backdrop of some mature trees, which are against a fence. Since they are an understory tree, if thats the correct word, I thought the dappled light would be good for them. In the picture I have referred to, there are a number of different Japanese maples in the foreground, and the caption reads mass planting of acer palmatum in the landscape. That is the effect I am after, and I don't really care what its called. I am only starting out with 3 trees because thats all I can afford right now, but the fence runs the length of an acre, so I guess eventually it will be a mass planting of maples, because eventually I would like it to look like the photo in Vertrees, which shows about 10 JM trees. The azeleas and small evergreens would go in the foreground of the bed. I really liked the fact that the picture didn't look like a row of the same tree, but was greatly varied in its leaf colors and textures. Hopefully you guys have access to this book, and can see what I mean. I really didn't mean for this to turn into a debate about my taste in arranging cultivars together, I just mentioned them so people could help me with size. I sort of get the idea you guys think I have no taste, and do not understand what the book was explaining, or how to garden, which has hurt my pregnant hormonal feelings-not meaning to qibble. Again, thanks for the advice.

I have fire island in a spot where it gets some morning sun and a bit late afternoon sun. This year the leaves are burning and it's lighter than earlier this year. If I recall, FI is a smaller hosta. Mauibuttercups is also a beautiful light green color, but when mature I believe it gets quite large grows up in cupped manner so you may feel you also need to put in much smaller hostas or perennials to cover the area that will be seen at the base of the plant. Personally, if you would decide on MB, I would plant groundcover, my fav being Black scallop Ajuga. It has beautiful deeply colored leaves and it get a lovely purple flower in late spring. And one more, August Moon is a light green hosta and seems to be tolerating the sun it gets in my yard, all morning til perhaps 1:00.

Oof. That's a good-looking one. It has a lot of things going on, it's hard to say what it is. Possibly Pachypodium rosulatum gracilius but I wouldn't put money on that bet. This one typically has a solid mass of roots when established so I don't know what happened with yours; it could have been over-watered at the wrong time. Malagasy pachypodiums are fairly difficult plants compared with their continental cousins---you will have to keep the substrate humid but not wet. Water it very sparingly (measured in tablespoons) once your weather turns very hot (25C and above), maybe every two weeks depending on how fast moisture evaporates where you are. Do not get tempted to water more, even if it is in full leaf because it will just be feeding off of its stored energy even before it develops enough roots to take in water. Hopefully, I'm wrong with the ID and it's something else from SA. My rooting advise won't be different but your odds of success will be higher.